From the President of the Staff Association
(202) 458-6230- Fax (202) 458-3466
June 7th, 2011
SN-87/10-11 Original: English
MEETING OF THE STAFF COMMITTEE 2010-2011 WITH THE SECRETARY OF ADMINISTRATION AND FINANCE
On Thursday, June 2, the Staff Committee 2010-2011 met with the Secretary for Administration and Finance, Mr. Gerald Anderson, who requested the meeting to inform on the progress with some of the requests that have been made with respect to staff benefits – in light of the upcoming end of the term of office of the present Committee. The Director of Human Resources, Ms. Tony Gaxiola, also participated in the meeting.
In this sense, we would like to share the following information with you:
1. Domestic Partnerships.
At the beginning of the meeting, we were informed that the General Secretariat had taken the decision to grant the Staff Committee’s request with respect to the recognition of domestic partnerships and the granting of paternity leave.
Those domestic partnerships that are legally registered in any of the OAS Member States will be recognized. This implies a change to the Staff Rules, and, in accordance with Rule 113.4(b), because the change may have a budgetary implications, the Permanent Council will need to be presented with a report for its consideration. For this purpose, the Staff Association will support the Department of Human Resources in the preparation of a voluntary survey to gauge how many staff members are currently in a domestic partnership that is legally registered in one of the OAS Member States. The Staff will be further informed on this process.
The Association reiterates that its position is that the recognition of domestic partnerships is a matter of equal treatment and non-discrimination among staff members. These are principles that Inter-American human rights organs promote and protect in our Hemisphere, and as a result we understand that the budgetary analysis is simply a necessary requisite to comply with the report to the Permanent Council, and we hope that it will not be the subject of debate as far as its approval.
2. Paternity Leave.
The General Secretariat is also working towards the recognition of paternity leave, for a period of 5 days. The 2011-2012 Committee will need to work with the Administration to find the most appropriate language, in order to represent all types of parenthood, both biological and adoptive.
It is expected that both of these measures will take effect beginning in January, 2012, following the approval of the Permanent Council of the change to the Rules.
3. Performance Evaluation System.
The Administration reminded the Committee that the date for submitting the work objectives has been extended until June 30. The Staff Committee will work with the Department of Human Resources to ensure compliance with this task, which is provided for in the Staff Rules. Similarly, the Committee will offer support to identify means to continue improving the instrument so that it is fair and that it supports staff in their professional development.
The Committee would be grateful if staff members would submit any comments that they may have regarding the system and the process in general, in order to consider them with the Department of Human Resources.
4. Regularization of the Contractual Situation of Staff Members.
As staff members are aware, there is a large number of staff members whose contractual conditions are irregular. In this sense, the Secretary presented a timetable to correct this situation. This timetable establishes a period of one and a half years to regularize the competitions that have passed the legal time period for reclassified posts and short-term contracts. Similarly, it contemplates convening a competition for continuing contracts in the latter part of 2012. While the Committee understands the impact in terms of man hours that are required to get the delayed competitions up to date, we expressed to the Secretary our concern regarding the delay in this process and requested that work continue to accelerate this situation – taking into account the legal implications that could arise from not correcting it as soon as possible.
The Committee transmitted the anxiety among staff, and the fact that staff are looking for alternative methods to present their complaints. The Staff Committee will soon convene an open meeting to address this issue, and asks staff members that are working under irregular conditions to send us a description of their situation in order to have greater clarity on the scope of the problem.
Similarly, the Department of Human Resources, pursuant to the timetable presented, will be asked for a list of the candidates and the posts that will be considered in each of the stages that are planned.
Finally, we would like to thank the Secretary for Administration and Finance, Mr. Gerald Anderson, and the Director of the Department of Human Resources, Ms. Tony Gaxiola, for their constant willingness to meet with us as requested and for their desire to improve communication and the conditions of staff members. On several occasions, the Committee has requested a meeting with the Secretary General; however, he was not available for such a meeting.
The Staff Committee 2010-2011 renews its commitment to the staff to progress and protect the rights of all staff members of the General Secretariat, and are confident that this will be the case during the term of office of the next Committee.